Compendium of Dragonslaying
Welcome to the 2012 Raid Addicts Leveling Guide. This is, hands down, THE BEST guide written for leveling on KMRA, and people who have read my previous versions will know this :). Please keep in mind this is VERY MUCH a Work In Progress. 2013 Note: This guide will be rewritten in the next month or so, with newer and better information. Changelogs Connecting To KMRA To connect to KMRA, follow the Connection Guide Starting Out On KMRA / Choosing Your Character When starting out on KMRA for the first time, PLEASE keep these things in mind, as we get asked questions all to frequently: *This is NOT a SOLO SERVER. You need to GROUP and RAID in order to progress here, except in some rare situations which I'll explain later on. *Not all classes are equal. I'll explain this a bit more in-depth as well. *Raiding is HARD. You need to beat the previous tier of content if you wish to take on the next tier of content. *It's recommended you box 4 - 6 Characters if you are soloing. *MacroQuest 2 IS allowed, so use it! Below you will find a list of each archetype of classes and what makes them good or bad. Tank Classes *Paladin - The Paladin, right now, is perhaps THE BEST Tank class on KMRA. They have buffs which give you around 70Kish HP total (Do not stack with cleric), and they have VERY strong self-healing at the high end. Easiest class to start out with if you plan to Tank. Also, they are fear-immune, so they can Tank bosses such as The Giga Ass P without much trouble. They do NOT need a lot of gearing in order to start raiding. *Shadow Knight - Possibly the second-best Tank on KMRA. They have DoTs, so its nearly impossible to pull agro from them, and they have strong Taps. As a fresh level 100, they are harder to gear than Paladins, but at the high end excel at Tanking. *Warrior - Currently no where near the best Tanking class on KMRA, but of all the Tank classes they DO have the best DPS at the High End, with skills like Topple Ganger and Holy WTF Batman. They also rely on Endurance, which is slower to regen than Mana and Health, and can't be "pumped" by any classes (See: Necromancer). They are the hardest to gear at level 100, with no self healing. Their aggro is also not as good as that of a Shadow Knight or Paladin, but they are still sturdy Tanks nonetheless. My recommendation for this section is definitely: Paladin for their ease of gearing, and their ability to take on higher content with lower gear. Best solo-class at level 100 hands-down as well. "Ghetto" Tanks There are classes who can "Ghetto" Tank things, meaning they are great off-tanks, but can never be a Main Tank in a raid situation. *Bard - I'm not actually sure Bard's HAVE any defensive disciplines, although I'm sure they do, as Mort plays one on live EQ. They're NOT recommended for MTing as they're not as strong defensively as other Tanks, but will do just fine on Adds. They also bring songs to the raid! *Monk - The Monk is another class that can Tank well, but not nearly as well as the other classes. They're great for their High DPS and High Avoidance as well. If you MUST use an OT like this, I highly recommend the Monk for their DPS and Avoidance, although if you need buffs use a Bard. Healer Classes Cleric - Cleric's have the best fast heals and direct heals in the game, except for perhaps Druid's in the end game, who can surpass them when played correctly. They also have the best line of HP/AC buffs, where the HP part falls behind a Paladin, but the AC far surpasses them. They are easy to play, and fairly easy to gear up. Shaman - Shaman's have the best HoT spells in the game, and the best Slows as well. They can also pre-slow once they have their Epic 2.0, which reduces agro from casting permanently, so they can do Rain spells without much problem. They don't need ANY gear to start healing extremely well, other than for mana. With their DPS Neck they are truly ungodly healers. Druid - A Druid is a great healer, surpassing Clerics and Shamans, but you must be there actively playing it for it to be so. They get a healing stance that deals damage to them, but increases their healing output by an insane amount, so that their direct heals and hots become extremely amazing. They also do not need much gear for healing. My recommendation for healing is 2 classes actually if you can handle it. Shaman for the HoT, Slow, and Buffs, and Cleric for the buffs, direct heals when needed, and rezzes! DPS Classes Ill break this section into a few parts: Pure Melee, Pure Caster, Hybrid Pure Melee Rogue - Rogues are in a bad spot right now, falling behind every other DPS. They are also another active class, meaning you have to be sitting there playing them to do any decent damage at all. Don't bother with them. Berserker - Zerkers have seen some nice buffs in the form of Discs lately, but once again fall behind the other DPSers. Monk - Rather than being a Ghetto Tank, Monks are actually meant to be strong DPSers, and that they are! They have the best DPS of all the melee classes, and you can AFK DPS with them, meaning you don't have to sit there playing. Warrior - While meant to be a Tank, they also have extremely strong DPS, being able to out DPS every other melee temporarily every 15 minutes. Best AFK DPS with Holy WTF running, other than that, its Monk hands down. Pure Caster Necromancer - NOT a good choice for DPSing. DoTs are currently fairly weak and cause too much agro. They do, however, have Blood Is Power (KMRA), which is a mana pump that you can cast INFINITELY to keep your healer/other DPSers mana up! ANY serious solo raider should have one, and the best part is they need no gear, unless fighting mobs who have a large radius Rampage. Wizard - Until Mage's get pets, Wizards are hands down the best DPSers in the game. They can hit for around 800K+ per cast, which is useful on bosses with 100 million HP, and they have Twincast, which allows them to cast twice with 1 spell for double the cost. Magician - Mage's share a nuke (Albeit with a different name) with Wizards, and one they get new pets they will surpass them in DPS. Enchanter - Useful for their pacify and mez spells, and their slows, which beat Shaman by a small bit. Also have mana-increasing spells via the KEI line. Hybrid Classes Beast Lord - Beast Lords are decent DPS in melee, and also have some of the buffs/heals of a Shaman, and slows as well, making them a fairly sturdy Hybrid. Ranger - Best Ranged Melee Class in the game with their archery skills, and they have decent buffs as well. Bard - Some of the best utility buffs in the game are found via Bards, and they have group heals, as well! Leveling Method 1 - Promo Bot (No longer available) NOTE: THIS METHOD IS NOT AVAILABLE ON THE RED (PVP) SERVER! Currently there is a Promo Bot spawned in Kerra Isle that will give you one of two things: *Level 70 and under get 500 Guk Points and Full Tier 2 Armor, and a boost to 85 *Level 71 and higher get free Epic 3.0 Pieces (See: Dreadspire Keep, Exquisite Studded Leather Helmet of the Raid Addict, 1 Gold Ticket and 5 Mysical Rune of Learning I highly recommend taking the free Tier 2 armor, as getting your Epic 3.0 is easy, and the shit from the casino is random, and most of it is class-specific (Although some of the pieces from it are Best-In-Slot, so its best to level an army of alts to farm nothing but free gold tickets). After you choose your characters, log in to the world. 1. Isle of Erud - Level 1-15+ When you first start your character you will find yourself in the middle of the ocean on a boat. Immediately jump off of it and swim down a few yards to be teleported to the base of the Island. You will receive a task window. Accept the task, and find Captain Erud Harmond. Hail him, and you will receive some Platinum. Say "Work" without the quotation marks to him, and accept Task 1 and 5. After you're done, scribe your spells, and sell your pearls to a vendor. With your money, buy as many Lionhide Backpack's as you possibly can. Not only are they cheap Weight Reduction bags, but you will need the room. Run over to the potion vendor and buy a stack of Distillate of Celestial Healing II and 2 stacks of Distillate of Celestial Healing III. You may also buy the Fortitude potions if you feel you need them. Now open your inventory screen and equip your Epic 1.0 Weapon. Head out past the potion vendor and guards now until you see Island Snake's. Kill 5 of these, and you will receive your LDON Stone. Run back to the camp and grab Task 1 again, and repeat it again. This is for a reason. The next step of this guide involves grinding Island Outcast's until level 9 or 10, and you need to be Level 5 to start. Repeating this task will accomplish this. Once you're level 5, say "Scribe" to the Captain without the quotes. Mem any useful spells up that you may have gotten (DoT's especially) and head out past the snakes until you see the outcasts. These are single-pullable, but hit fairly hard and have high health, so it's recommended you have a DoT class such as a Necro here. You will need to pop a Distillate of Celetial Healing II here every pull unless you have a dedicated healer. You may notice that the outcasts drop Pages. You can ignore these; However, if they drop Augments, you can loot them, as you will need them for junk augs later on (See: Aug Stacking). They also drop loot, which can honestly be ignored, as no matter what you do next you will replace it ASAP. Once you're level 9 or 10, 10 being preferred, run back to town and sell your diamonds/pearls, scribe your spells, and then buy some gear from the gear vendors that is appropriate to your class. I recommend only buying pieces costing between 5-15PP, as its not worth it to blow all your money on gear that isn't so amazing here. After you're done in town, head out past the outcasts until you see the Island Ghost's. These are social monsters, meaning they will assist each other if you pull one near another one. They hit hard and fast, which is why Level 10 is recommended so you can use your Distillate of Celestial Healing III. Use them every pull here, and you will not have much trouble. If your HoT runs out before your mob dies, simply kite it around a bit, as they run slow. When killing them, be sure to loot Essence of an Island Ghost as its needed for the quest. After you kill 15 of the Ghosts, head back to town one last time. Hand in the essence to the captain, and you should be between 17 - 20. You can still quest here until level 35, but I highly suggest saying "Real World" without the quotes and heading to Vex Thal. Clean Bestiary (Work In Progress!) A Hammerhead Shark Captain Erud Harmond Elgor the Alchemist [[Island Snake Island Beetle Island Outcast Island Ghost 2. Vex Thal (Intermission) Here you have two choices. If you wish to take the speedy route, then by all means continue to read this section of the guide. If you wish to take the slower, scenic route, which allows you to have a bit more fun and take your time, go back to the table of contents and go to Route 2. Once you get to Vex Thal, immediately go out to the couryard. Find a Protector of the Soft and say "skip" without the quotation marks to get taken to Kerra Isle, the player hub. Once there, seek out the Promo Bot and say "reward" without the quotation marks to be granted Level 88, full Tier 2, and 500 Guk Points, which can be spent in the Plane of Knowledge. Leveling Method 2 - Scenic Route! 1. Isle of Erud - Level 1-15+ When you first start your character you will find yourself in the middle of the ocean on a boat. Immediately jump off of it and swim down a few yards to be teleported to the base of the Island. You will receive a task window. Accept the task, and find Captain Erud Harmond. Hail him, and you will receive some Platinum. Say "Work" without the quotation marks to him, and accept Task 1 and 5. After you're done, scribe your spells, and sell your pearls to a vendor. With your money, buy as many Lionhide Backpack's as you possibly can. Not only are they cheap Weight Reduction bags, but you will need the room. Run over to the potion vendor and buy a stack of Distillate of Celestial Healing II and 2 stacks of Distillate of Celestial Healing III. You may also buy the Fortitude potions if you feel you need them. Now open your inventory screen and equip your Epic 1.0 Weapon. Head out past the potion vendor and guards now until you see Island Snake's. Kill 5 of these, and you will receive your LDON Stone. Run back to the camp and grab Task 1 again, and repeat it again. This is for a reason. The next step of this guide involves grinding Island Outcast's until level 9 or 10, and you need to be Level 5 to start. Repeating this task will accomplish this. Once you're level 5, say "Scribe" to the Captain without the quotes. Mem any useful spells up that you may have gotten (DoT's especially) and head out past the snakes until you see the outcasts. These are single-pullable, but hit fairly hard and have high health, so it's recommended you have a DoT class such as a Necro here. You will need to pop a Distillate of Celetial Healing II here every pull unless you have a dedicated healer. You may notice that the outcasts drop Pages. You can ignore these; However, if they drop Augments, you can loot them, as you will need them for junk augs later on (See: Aug Stacking). They also drop loot, which can honestly be ignored, as no matter what you do next you will replace it ASAP. Once you're level 9 or 10, 10 being preferred, run back to town and sell your diamonds/pearls, scribe your spells, and then buy some gear from the gear vendors that is appropriate to your class. I recommend only buying pieces costing between 5-15PP, as its not worth it to blow all your money on gear that isn't so amazing here. After you're done in town, head out past the outcasts until you see the Island Ghost's. These are social monsters, meaning they will assist each other if you pull one near another one. They hit hard and fast, which is why Level 10 is recommended so you can use your Distillate of Celestial Healing III. Use them every pull here, and you will not have much trouble. If your HoT runs out before your mob dies, simply kite it around a bit, as they run slow. When killing them, be sure to loot Essence of an Island Ghost as its needed for the quest. After you kill 15 of the Ghosts, head back to town one last time. Hand in the essence to the captain, and you should be between 17 - 20. You can still quest here until level 35, but I highly suggest saying "Real World" without the quotes and heading to Vex Thal. 2. Vex Thal Levels 15+ to 30 Vex Thal is, by far, one of the most beloved zones ever made on KMRA. It has tasks to gain Guk Reward Coins and Platinum, and some pretty decent gear drops here as well. When you first get here you will want to go over to Merchant Nildar and say "help" without the quotation marks in order to accept his tasks. Be sure you get all of them for now. Immediately go out to the right of the building in the courtyard, and kill the 2 Frogloks standing there. Then, proceed to kill 20 Ordar Rodents 3. Fungus Grove Levels 30+ to 70 Fungus Grove is, in my opinion, one of the best areas to level for 30-70. The mobs may be a little hard to start out with, but with your fighter bot and some determination you can make due, this zone offers a 1 kill 1 level system for the first 20-25 levels, then it begins to slow down. There is no specific way you have to do this zone, but I highly recommend a small pull or even a single pull if you can. 4. Karnor's Castle Levels 70+ to 87 Karnor's Castle is home to items needed for the T1 Armor set, the molds drop here, also you can find your class 1.5 Epics here as well as some other random items, the experience here is 2-3 kills for 1 level, 86 is a hell level, this level is the hardest level in game, it is like gaining 1-85 all over again, but once you get past it you'll be level 87 and capable of wearing some of the better gear ingame. I would recommend single or small group pulls, but no more than 3 mobs at a time as the DPS will add up. 5. Akheva Levels 87+ to 100 Akheva is the area where Mystical Runes of Learning drop and home to the best experience in the entire game, this area may be a strong zone, but with a group of you and a bot, maybe a healer, you could take on 1-2 mobs at a time. This area is 2-3 kills a level, 99 is the second and last hell level in KMRA, this level may take 10-30 minutes depending on your kill speed and determination. Highly recommend farming Mystical Runes because, the better spells you have, the better off you are and the easier it becomes to get more.